11/04/2011

Solyndra heat on Obama

A House panel yesterday voted to slap the White House with a subpoena demanding thousands of documents about the questionable $528 million federal loan to Solyndra, a politically connected California solar-power company that went bankrupt in August.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that is behind the investigation, said the subpoenas were a last resort for dealing with an uncooperative White House -- being questioned about whether it knew Solyndra was in trouble before pushing for the loan.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that it “cooperated extensively” with the committee’s requests but that the Republicans chose instead “a partisan route ... with subpoenas that are unprecedented and unwarranted.”

The White House released 1,200 pages of new Solyndra documents on Wednesday, apparently in an attempt to avoid the subpoenas.